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Sunday, August 15, 2010

Reality TV... You Suck!!

I hate reality shows. They are the cancer of today’s society. Ever since they became the crazy in the early 2000s, I have never understood the appeal of them. Watching “real people” in “real situations”, and see what unfolds? Don’t I do that already? Isn’t it called everyday life? Guess not. (This is one of those instances where TV and I disagree on something.)

Truthfully the thing that has always bothered me about reality shows is the total lack of creativity in them. These programs have writers, but not in the traditional sense. They have “writers” who dream up situations for these “real people” to react to and then just film them. That is not writing, that is scouting locations and scenarios.

As an aspiring media worker/writer/artist/whatever, I see these types of shows killing the creative process. Working with a reality show, you just follow the formula that has already been set up by the successful reality shows, and just copy it. Examples include Real Housewives, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love, and The Kardisians, basically anything on E! or VH1. Call it point and shoot TV.

This is why I love scripted television so much more. You get these truly creative shows like The Simpsons (Seasons 1-10 only), South Park, The Sopranos, Mad Men, etc. that are creative, but tell you a story and give you a message. I feel these shows add so much to our social consciousness. Actually they affect our overall society. How many of us can quote The Simpsons or how many of us can say we have had a Seinfeld situation.

But the best part of scripted TV, in this lonely blog writer’s opinion, is they can take you away from the drudgery of everyday life. Life is hard, and sometimes it is nice to sit in front of the TV and be taken away from your worries for an hour and travel to a far away land. Reality shows cannot do that; they are just a giant reminder of how crappy our society is today. (Real Housewives I am looking in your direction.)

So next time you sit in front of the TV, fight off the temptation of the Reality Show virus, and enjoy the escapism that scripted TV can give you.